The Saga of Blood and Gold

A Question of Damnation

Following directly from the events of last time, the group had emerged from the temple of “doom” to find that they could not rest. Seeking the advice of the orc leader of the religious sanctuary (still can’t remember his name) he said curses are a common occurrence in the trials of the rift and that he could cure us for a price. 50g each was asked for and paid, and although the ritual worked for Belalurion, Kharamash and Melody, something in Honor’s tiefling blood prevented the cure from holding.

Now in a race against time before exhaustion caught up with Honor, they left the sanctuary and headed back to Eastbridge seeking a cure. Their haste and Honor’s refusal to stop for anything led them to encounter harpies and bandits on their journey, but both foes were swiftly dealt with and as night fell they staggered into Eastbridge, exhausted but alive. Three of the group collapsed into their beds in the Dragon and Flagon, but Honor still could not rest. She went to the temple to speak to Sister Grace, a fellow tiefling that she had dealt with before to see if she had ever come across something like this. Luckily she had, but the only cure she knew included a very rare potion called Angel’s Tears that she didn’t know how to find. Disregarding the late hour, Honor went to The Cauldron to try and find out more about Angel’s Tears and where she could get it, and discovered that the owner was in possession of a single vial, but would not sell it for less than 500g. With the rest of the village asleep, Honor returned to the tavern and tried (unsuccessfully) to rest.

In the morning Honor rummaged through the bag of holding, and discovering the mechanical man went straight to Professor Namfoodle. The wonder of the mechanical man was not lost on the professor who thought it might be the missing link in allowing him to create a sentient robot and he agreed to pay (750g?) for it.

With money in hand Honor returned to the cauldron, finding it’s owner on his guard with a crossbow pointing at the door. After realising Honor had come with money rather than to steal it he relaxed his stance but warned of the terrible things that could be done with the potion. He did however agree to sell it to Honor. Not knowing the details of Honor’s conversation with Sister Grace, Belalurion tried to question her on what the potion was needed for. Honor insisted on handling everything herself and refused to co-operate, leading to Belalurion becoming frustrated and leaving for the forest to seek the counsel of Valios.

Honor, the key ingredient in hand returned to Sister Grace and the cure was performed. Feeling suddenly very tired, Honor returned to the Dragon and Flagon for some well earned rest. Meanwhile Belalurion found Valios in the forest, learned that the grave of Winter now lay empty and warned him that Honor may be messing with powers beyond her comprehension and to keep an eye of the border with Eastbridge. Valios gave Belalurion a special arrow which will summon him if fired into the sky. With that, Belalurion returned to Eastbridge, and after a brief conversation with Kharamash went to sleep.

The night, however, was not as restful as was hoped.

The party was awoken by a scream from outside the inn, and then the sounds of frantic knocking on the inn door. Going downstairs, the Reeve’s men were trying to get Tallstag to allow them up to get at Honor, who had apparently murdered someone during the night. The group knocked on Honor’s door to see if she was alright, but receiving no response Melody flew around to look in her window, and found that Honor was no longer a tiefling but had become Human!

It was quickly deduced that Honor’s demon half and human half had somehow been separated by the ritual to cure the curse, and that the demon had then killed an innocent before dragging his corpse off into the forest. The party was unable to persuade Honor to come out of her room to investigate, but with the aid of Sister Grace talking via Whispering Shell Honor calmed down slightly. She allowed Melody inside to make adjustments to her clothing and the group set off into the forest to follow the demon, following the scent of blood that Belalurion could now track thanks to the effects of an earlier potion.

First they encountered the mutilated body of the villager hanging from a tree, and the a field scattered with animal carcasses, in the centre of which was Indesda the Unbound, the demon from within Honor. The separation was causing Honor pain, but rather than give in to the demon Honor chose to fight. Healed by both Belalurion and Kharamash she charged into combat, but it quickly became evident that this foe was beyond the abilities of the party to defeat.

All seemed lost when suddenly Honor the Virtuous, a divine counterpart to the demon Indesda appeared at the back of the clearing and tackled Indesda away from the wounded Honor. The fight was still close but finally Indesda was banished back to the nether realm where she belonged. Honor the Virtuous was wounded, and could not survive without merging with Honor the Bonded, and although the joining was perilous it was attempted. Nearing death in the process, Honor was reborn as an aasimar, the demonic blood replaced with divine.

As the merging completed pieces of the knowledge of the divine entity passed into Honor. Most of it was too jumbled to make out but one thing was clear: Varodrax is within Eastrbridge…